The system of distributing powers for the investigation of criminal cases must meet today's realities - A. Lukashenko

August 14, Minsk /BELTA/. The system of distributing powers among state bodies for investigating criminal cases must meet today's realities. This was stated today by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting on improving legislation in the fight against crime, BELTA correspondent reports. "Simply put, it is necessary to determine how optimal the current system of distributing powers among state bodies for investigating certain categories of criminal cases is," Alexander Lukashenko noted. "There is only one criterion: it must meet today's realities, not be a rigid dogma that everyone is afraid to adjust." Today's meeting was a logical continuation of the reports from the country's law enforcement agencies. Over the year, perhaps the most large-scale inspections of the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Prosecutor's Office were carried out. "The inspections revealed a number of problems and at the same time predetermined the directions for further improvement of the work of these state bodies," the head of state noted. Among the priority issues are the jurisdiction of criminal cases, the quality and effectiveness of operational-search activities, procedural actions, as well as preventive measures used. Regarding the institution of prosecutor's sanctioning of relevant actions, the President emphasized: "Inspections have shown that, unfortunately, in a number of cases, the prosecutor's sanction does not save from lawlessness, i.e., it does not fulfill its functions." As Alexander Lukashenko said, prosecutors often formally "rubber-stamp" sanctions. Employees of internal affairs bodies, state security, and other law enforcement agencies, in turn, shift responsibility for the validity of operational-search activities and procedural actions carried out to prosecutors, hiding behind the obtained sanction. Alexander Lukashenko stated that, at the same time, there are cases where the slowness of prosecutors, intentional delays in granting sanctions, or outright refusal to grant them become obstacles to the timely suppression of crime and bringing the guilty party to justice. -0-